An apology

... has just been issued by the Australian parliament to the indigenous population for the decades of official policy of seperating families (discontinued in the 1970s) known now as 'the stolen generation'.

My point, however, that by his carping, ill-considered and unmatched waffle in endorsing the apology and specifically the use of the word 'sorry', the leader of the opposition has well and truly earned what I feel is his rightful nickname.

The leader of the opposition is Mr Brendan Nelson, a small man, in stature, intellect, and style; henceforth known to me as 'Half' Nelson.

We heard of the apology from the government via the BBC this morning, but no mention was made of the Nelson comments.
The announcement came as a shock to me, I had no idea these separations had been going on so recently.

i lived in australia for 6 years in the early '70s. i can recall a (white) family we knew had a little aborigine boy they called "andrew", he would have been about 4/5 (i would have been about 6/7). thought nothing of it at the time, but subsequently discovering the policy of removing the indigenous children and placing them with white families made me re-evaluate things somewhat.